Liquid level control for washing machines



April 19, 1932.

| c. SCHENCK LIQUID LEVEL CONTROL FOR WASHING MACHINES Filed Dec, 28,1928 SCHENGK ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 19, 1932 UNITED STATES PATIENTOFFICE LE ROY C. SCHENCK, OF MOLINE, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO TROY LAUNDRYMACHINERY COMPANY, INC., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARELIQUID LEVEL CONTROL FOR WASHING MACHINES Application file d December28, 1928. Serial No. 328,946.

This invention relates to laundry machina constant liquid level togetherwith tle feaery and in particular to laundry washing ture of making itpossible to vary this conmachines of the type employing a garment stantliquid level at the option of the opercontainer in the form of acylinder, rotating ator. Accordingly, it is a feature of the '5 withinan outer casing serving as a liquid container.

The invention has for its object to provide means for accurately andautomatically determining and maintaining the level of liquid to be usedin the outer casing of a washing machine of the above noted type.

Laundry washing machines may bedivided. into two principal types, thefirst being adapted for washing with a liquid element consisting mainlyof water; the second being adapted for dry cleaning and many morevolatile liquid solvents such as benzene, naptha, gasoline, etc. Thisinvention, while 1 useful with either type of machine, is particu- 2larly advantageouswhen applied to machines of the latter type.

Heretofore in dry cleaning washers it has been customary toprovide aninlet connection at the top of the machine for the incoming solvent, anoutlet connection at the bottom for draining the solvent from themachine and a stationary outlet immediately below the cylinder journalto prevent the solvent level from rising tothe height of the journal andleaking from the outer casing or container at this point. When such amachine is used with the most common dry cleaning process, known ascontinuous flow, the level of the solvent in the washer is maintained bythe adjustment of the inlet and outlet valves, the stationary overflowbeing relied upon to prevent the solvent from reaching too high a levelwithin the machine.

With such an arrangement it will be seen that the height of'the liquidlevel is more or less indefinite and depends entirely upon the care usedin the relative adjustments of the inlet and outlet valves.

Then again, it is sometimes customary to use an overflow outlet as adrain to maintain present invention to provide an attachment for washingmachines which is capable of being adjusted to different positionspositive- I to prevent the liquid level within'the machine from risingabove the predetermined point. Other features and advantages will beapparent after a consideration of the following description and theappended claim.

Referring to the drawings, Fig.1 shows the invention applied to one wellknown form of washing machine employing a horizontally disposed cylinderand easing.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the machine I shown in Fig. 1.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1, numeral 1 indicates generally theouter casing of a washing machine of known construction which ispreferably completely closed except for the usual charging door at thefront of the machine. Mounted in any convenient manner for rotatingwithin the casing l is a per-' forated tumbling cylinder 2. The outercasing 1 as shown inthedrawings is supported on suitable standards 3. j

The lowermost art of the outer casing is provided with a rain outlet 4and a drain valve 5 of any suitable type. At any point preferably abovethe highest liquid level to be used there is provided an inlet pipe 6which is connected'to a source of liquid washing material. At one lowerend of the casing there is provided an outlet pipe 7 which is joined toan overflow unit 9 having an inverted U shaped liquid channel. Thepreferred construction of this overflow unit comprises a hollowcylindrical member 9 having its interior divided into two separatechambers by means of a baffle plate 10. Member 10 is shorter than theinterior length of member 9 to provide an overflow communication from adefinite height of liquid level, allowing the one chamber to the other.This arrangement drain connection at the bottom of the container toremain closed.

With either method it will be seen that there is no provision for themaintenance of suitable unions 12 are provided for uniting 100 may becalledra closed U-bend. The lower exterior end of member 9 at oppositesides is provided with threaded extensions 11 and the threaded extension11 on one side to the outlet pipe 7 and on the other side to the drainpipe 13. The unions 12 are of suitable type to permit the member 9 to berotated angularly with respect to the pipe 7. For the purpose ofpreventing the liquid in the casing 2 from being siphoned out the member9 is provided with a suitable vent 14 at the top there- While thedrawings disclose the preferred embodiment of the overflow unit, it willbe understood that other equivalent construc-,

What I claim is: a 1 In a laundry machine an outer casing serving as acontainer for a liquid washing agent, a substantially horizontal liquiddischarge conduit connected to said casing to discharge said liquid fromnear the bottom thereof, an elongated hollow member having one" endclosed and the other end connected between adjacent portions of saiddischarge conduit and having inlet and outlet openings communicatingwith said conduit, means rotatablyconnecting said hollow member to saidportions of said discharge conduit to permit swivelling of the hollowmember in a substantially vertical plane, and means within said hollowmember dividing its interior lon-' gitudinally into separate chambershaving open communication with each other at their upper ends.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, this6th day of December, 1928.

LE ROY C. SCHENOK.

lowered. This position should be such as to afford the minimum liquidlevel with which satisfactory-washing will be obtained. In anyintermediate position, therefore, of member 9, the liquid within thecasing will .rise to the height determined by the height of the bafiieplate 10, and any excess of liquid above this level will flow out bygravity through the pipe 13 to a suitable reservoir. With thisarrangement, a positive control of liquid level is provided even thoughthe operator should improperly adjust the inlet or outlet valves. Theheight of the liquid will never exceed that which has been predeterminedby the position of the overflow unit 9.

If desired, a suitable pointer 15 may be attached to member 9 and incooperation therewith a corresponding scale 16 graduated to read insuitable units of liquid height may be attached to the end of themachine whereby the attendant will be enabled to accurately gauge theangular position of member 9 in accordance with the height of the liquiddesired within the casing. The member 9 therefore provides an automatic,positive and readily adjustable means for preventing the level fromrising beyonda predetermined height, whether this member be used as adrain for the machine when the liquid is flowing continuously or whetherit is used merely as a safety measure to prevent the rise of the liquidlevel beyond a predetermined height.

While the invention is closed in connection with one particular type ofwashing machine, it will be obvious to those familiar with the art thatit may be equally well applied to other well known types of washingmachines without departing from-the spirit and scope of the invention.

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